'Playoff tradition': Punt return TDs solidify Junior Bergen's legacy as Montana marches on

MISSOULA — Saturday was likely the final home game of the season at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and this year’s No. 14 Montana Grizzlies football team made sure to go out with a bang.

And it all started with Junior Bergen doing what he does best, and that’s show up when the lights are brightest with a pair of punt return touchdowns to help spur the Grizzlies into the second round of the FCS playoffs as they defeated the Tennessee State Tigers, 41-27.

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“Super blessed. I thank God every night, every morning for it,” Bergen said. “These guys trusted me, and they look to me in some of these moments, and I’m just so grateful to be able to kind of capitalize in that. And, yeah, I’m just super grateful.”

“It’s a playoff tradition,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck added. And those words couldn’t ring more true as once again Bergen was called upon with the season on the line, and the senior from Billings delivered once again.

His first score — one that was blocked to perfection — came in the third quarter to make it 27-6. The second was desperately needed which gave the Griz 34-20 advantage in the fourth on a play where Bergen caught the ball running and had to make a lot of magic happen on his own to find his way into the end zone once again.

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That makes it eight career punt return touchdowns for him — five in the playoffs — as Bergen tied the FCS record with that mark.

“I mean, the kid’s unreal,” said UM senior cornerback Trevin Gradney, a childhood friend of Bergen’s growing up in Billings. “There’s not much else you can say about it. In the big moments, he shows up, and you can always count on him to do his job, and the other guys that do their jobs around him. He’s a playmaker, man.”

“It’s become so regular and done so regularly around here that we forget how hard that is to do,” Hauck added. “And these guys, sometimes they make it look easy. You know, you’re talking about doing two in one game three years in a row in the playoffs. Yeah, it’s pretty it’s pretty special. And I think it builds upon itself.”

Special teams was a savior for Montana (9-4) on Saturday, as kicker Ty Morrison went 4 for 5 on the day, providing most of the scoring early on through the third quarter. Kicker Grant Glasgow also had a kickoff recovered by Tyson Rostad just before half that set up Morrison for his third field goal of the day, a 50-yarder, that put the Griz up 16-3 heading into the break.

Offensively the Grizzlies were led by a big game from Eli Gillman who sealed the win with a late nail in the coffin 59-yard score and who finished the day with 136 yards and two touchdowns, but turnovers hurt the Griz with three second-half lost fumbles that allowed the Tigers to get back into the game.

Quarterback Logan Fife lost a pair of them while Gillman coughed up another as the Griz were on the doorstep of scoring in the fourth quarter.

Montana’s defense stood firm. The Griz held the Tigers to 3 for 14 on third down and only 277 total yards, and even as Tennessee State found some life to climb back in it, the Grizzlies stood tall and came up with timely stops, and ended it with an interception from Gradney.

“I think we did a good job handling them,” Gradney said. “We knew they’d like to throw the ball. I think we took that away early. They kind of got to us late a little bit, but we kind of kept the big one off of us when we when we needed to. And yeah, I was really proud of our guys.”

The game was all over the place Saturday night, but in the end, the Griz did everything needed to advance to the next round with their ninth win of the year. Next up for them is a rematch of last year’s FCS national championship game as UM hits the road to Brookings, South Dakota to take on two-time reigning national champ No. 3 South Dakota State (10-2) at noon on Saturday.

“It’s always hard to win this particular weekend,” Hauck said. “So thought our guys had a lot of juice all week long, and it showed they had that in the game tonight. And I was just proud of the way they they kept competing, and when they got a chance to to put it away, they did. So good by our guys.”